Multiwall stepped-end paper bags are well-known and have been used for many years for the shipping and storage of bulk materials, including fine powdery material or coarser particulate material. Such bags may be required to hold material weighing in the range of 10-50 kg. Typically such bags have an inner ply and an outer ply and may include one or more intermediate plies, depending on the strength required and the nature of the material to be carried. In some cases the intermediate ply will be of sheeting and the outer ply of a paper. Such bags require a paper patch to help strengthen the bottom of the bag, a time consuming process at the bottomer. Another form of bag uses a paper ply which is pre-coated with a polyethylene resin to provide interior protection. This type of bag is not competitively priced unless the supplier of the bag material has its own coater. Yet another style of bag has a plastics sheet or film adhered to the inner surface of a paper ply with an outer paper ply adhered to the first-mentioned paper ply. With this type of bag the plastics sheeting is in direct contact with the product being carried in the bag, and this may not be very desirable, especially for consumables. This configuration could lead to condensation within the bag. Also the inner ply of plastics material is at risk from scratching during forming of the bag itself and such scratching could destroy or adversely affect the barrier properties of the material. Still another style of bag, actually the most common in North America, uses three plies of paper with a plastics material film or ply sandwiched between the intermediate and inner paper plies. Such a design uses thin paper plies and needs the three plies of paper in order to ensure an adequately strong bottom. Also a three-paper ply bag is limited in basis weight reduction and is not competitively priced with bags that can be formed with fewer plies.